The Hindu Business Line : India to push ahead with nuke deal amid strict deadline

Nuke issues
India has convened a meeting of the IAEA Secretariat in Vienna on July 25
The IAEA Board of Governors is slated to meet on August 1 to discuss the safeguards agreement
Following the IAEA clearance, the Government will approach the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group
Post NSG clearance, the agreement will go for a vote in the US Congress

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New Delhi, July 22 With the Government clearing the confidence vote in Parliament, the decks have been cleared for India to push forward with the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal amid a very strict time-line.

As a first step, India has convened a formal meeting of the IAEA Secretariat in Vienna on July 25 to brief all member-states on the technical aspects of the proposed India-specific safeguards agreement, an essential step to implement the Indo-US nuclear deal. This follows an informal briefing by India on July 18 of the 35 member countries on the IAEA Board. The IAEA Board of Governors is subsequently slated to meet on August 1 to discuss and possibly approve the safeguards agreement.

Following the IAEA clearance, the Government will approach the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), the cartel that controls nuclear commerce, for an exemption from the current rules that prohibit trade with India. The US is expected to play a key role in pushing through India’s case at the NSG.

Once the NSG clearance is through, the agreement will go back to the US Congress for an up-down vote before the US President, Mr George W Bush’s tenure expires on January 19, 2009.

The US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Mr William Burns, is expected to come to India in August and the dates of his visit are being worked out through diplomatic channels, Government officials said. This comes amid worries that there is a possibility that the Indo-US nuclear deal might be unable to get Congressional approval in time. The US Congressional calendar, according to experts, may not have requisite number of working days left to clear the deal, once India manages to bag the IAEA and the NSG clearances. This could, in turn, create a piquant situation, where US companies may end up watching from the sidelines as nuclear fuel and technology trade between India and suppliers from other countries.

Beneficiaries

Among the clear beneficiaries of the deal is the state-owned Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL), which has been negotiating deals with global atomic power plant manufacturers, including Areva, GE, Westinghouse and Rosatom.

State-owned NTPC Ltd is also in the running to enter the nuclear power generation sector. A host of private sector players are also in the fray to make their debut in the nuclear generation space, even though a crucial legislation, amending the current legal provisions enabling only companies with a 51 per cent government stake to enter the sector, is awaited.

The private players in the fray include the Tatas, Reliance Power, the Essar Group, the Vedanta Group and the GMR Group. Indian equipment manufacturers in the fray include Larsen & Toubro (L&T), Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) and Gammon India in civil construction; L&T in reactors; Bharat Heavy Engineering Ltd (BHEL) in boilers and a bevy of suppliers in the areas of boiler feed pumps, heat exchangers, panels, and consulting and engineering services. Besides, the public-sector Uranium Corporation of India will be bidding for mines abroad.

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